• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.195-208
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze whether there are differences in medical expenses according to medical security type in the use of medical services with high disease burden such as coronary intervention. Methods: Chi-square test and covariance analysis(ANCOVA) were conducted to identify the differences in the characteristics and costs according to medical security type of 1,904 patients who underwent coronary intervention in a university hospital from 2011 to 2012. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine whether the cost affects medical expenses. Results: In the medical aid group, the proportion of women, those without a job, those without a spouse, and those who received hemodialysis was high, length of stay was high, patients using the emergency room and those who died was high. The medical aid patients were significantly higher in the non-benefit medical expenses, optional medical expenses, physician and admission, meals, medications and injections. National health insurance patients were significantly higher in procedure. The medical security type was found to be significant as a variable affecting the medical expenses. Conclusions: Provision of medical expenses should be managed in advance by providing prevention and education services for the vulnerable, and care services in the region should be provided to suppress the occurrence of medical expenses due to the increase in the number of days spent. In addition, it is necessary to support medical expenses to prevent unsatisfactory medical services from occurring for non-benefit and optional care.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.248-260
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• 2012

This study has focused on the degree of recognition and preparation for the old age life of public servants. The subjects of this research were 731 middle-aged public employees in Pusan, Ulsan, Kyeong-Nam Province. The data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire. The following results were obtained. First, 67.2% respondents were women. Over 45-years old were 28.4%, Middle level quality of life were 46.1%, Over 20-years career were 26.7%, Administration staffs were 33.4%, and 7th grade were 31.9%. Second, In Recognition for the old age life, Respondents and their spouse have the primary responsibility of the dependent elderly. Preferred life area was suburban rural area. The order of anticipated problems of the old age life was financial problem, health problem, and leisure activity. Third, Actually, in preparation for the old age life, the order of respondents preparation was financial stability, health, and leisure activity. Forth, In the satisfaction degree of public pension for the old age life, the order of respondence was insufficient (56.0%), appropriate (17.2%), and ignorant(26.8%).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1407-1412
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• 2012

Background & Objectives: Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both sexes in Iran. This study was designed to assess upper GI endoscopic findings among people > 50 years targeted in a mass screening program in a hot-point region. Methods: Based on the pilot results in Guilan Cancer Registry study (GCRS), one of the high point regions for GC-Lashtenesha- was selected. The target population was called mainly using two methods: in rural regions, by house-house direct referral and in urban areas using public media. Upper GI endoscopy was performed by trained endoscopists. All participants underwent biopsies for rapid urea test (RUT) from the antrum and also further biopsies from five defined points of stomach for detection of precancerous lesions. In cases of visible gross lesions, more diagnostic biopsies were taken and submitted for histopathologic evaluation. Results: Of 1,394 initial participants, finally 1,382 persons (702 women, 680 men) with a mean age of $61.7{\pm}9.0$ years (range: 50-87 years) underwent upper GI endoscopy. H. pylori infection based on the RUT was positive in 66.6%. Gastric adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus were detected in seven (0.5%) and one (0.07%) persons, respectively. A remarkable proportion of studied participants were found to have esophageal hiatal hernia (38.4%). Asymptomatic gastric masses found in 1.1% (15) of cases which were mostly located in antrum (33.3%), cardia (20.0%) and prepyloric area (20.0%). Gastric and duodenal ulcers were found in 5.9% (82) and 6.9% (96) of the screened population. Conclusion: Upper endoscopy screening is an effective technique for early detection of GC especially in high risk populations. Further studies are required to evaluate cost effectiveness, cost benefit and mortality and morbidity of this method among high and moderate risk population before recommending this method for the GC surveillance program at the national level.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.293-303
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• 2005

Objectives: Yearly, annual report of cancer patients in Korea is released by National Cancer Center. But, this report is focused in all of the patients in nation. So, there is needed to modify and analyze this report to be used properly for local resident. In Ulleung island, local county and Ulleung medical center don't have cancer occurrence data of local resident until now. The aim of this analysis is to know characteristics and data of cancer patients occurrence in Ulleung island for 10 years. Methods: We are offered data of cancer patients occurrence in Ulleung island for 10 years from National Cancer Center. This data was composed of sex, address (only town level), diagnosed date, diagnosis. So, we analyze this data and compare to Korea data for same duration. Results: There were 268 patients for 10 years (1993-2002). Man were 175 about 65% and women were 93 about 35%. There were 163 in Ulleungeup about 60%, 39 in Seomyun about 14.5% and 48 in Bukmyun about 18%. There were 19 patients in unknown residence. After 1998, above 30 patients were occurred, but before 1998, below 27 patients were occurred. Diagnosed date was concentrated in June, 33 patients were occurred about 12%, but least occurred month was December. Most occurred age were from 60 to 69, there were 80 patients about 30%. Most occurred cancer was gastric cancer, there were 54 patients about 20%. Hepatic cancer was second and third was lung cancer. In man, most occurred cancers were gastric cancer and hepatic cancer, both was 38 patients. In woman, gastric cancer and uterine cervix cancer were occurred mostly. After 2001, in Korea most occurred female cancer was breast, but in Ulleung island, most occurred cancer was stomach. Conclusions: Researcher should demand and analyze cancer data from National Cancer Center that cancer management project in local county and public health education of cancer could focus on local resident because annually released cancer data from National Cancer Center focus on a nation. In Ulleung island, cancer incidence was more than incidence in Korea and breast cancer was occurred less than in Korea. So, more study should be needed to confirm why more cancer were occurred than Korea and breast cancer was less occurred.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 1984

With the increase of using pesticides, pesticide poisonings become more frequent. In the previous epidemiological study on pesticide poisoning and the reports of the authorities concerned, it is carefully affirmed that pesticide poisonings are caused by farmers' ignorance and negligence in using the pesticides. But the pesticide poisoning should be taken into account in terms of the person who sprays the pesticides, its spraying process, farming style and farmers' socio-economic conditions. And based on the understanding mentioned above, preventive measures for pesticide poisoning should be established. In this socio-medical point of view, this study examined the public health problems caused by using pesticides and the treatment of pesticide poisoning, based on the interviews with farmers in a area of Kyunggi-Do about the spraying process of pesticides, poisoning experiences and its treatments. The results are as follows ; 1) The style of spraying pesticides in the target area is mostly an individual one, not cooperative one. And the subjects of spraying are householders, whose educational backgrounds are beneath notice. More than 2~5 of the subjects are women or old men of 60 years old or so. These are seen to derive from the socio-economic status of Korean agricultural families; their younger generation's moving to greater cities and their petty farming styles. 2) As for the safety measures for the spraying of pesticides, those which have nothing to do with the economic, problems such as efficient spraying and productivity, are well obeyed. On the other hand, some safety measures as the use of safety devices, and spraying time, the degree of dilution of pesticides and the spraying method In windy days, are not obeyed very well, for to keep those makes spraying difficult to do and productivity worse. These facts indicate that the safety measures for using pesticides must be directly concerned with the spraying process, farming style and farmers' socio economic status, rather than the subject's knowledge or carefulness. 3) Even In cases of poisoning they do rarely consult the doctors. This is caused by the problem of their locality and transportation since one should pass away a day even in the busiest season to consult doctors, and by their low socio-economic status. 4) The epidemiological studies on pesticide poisonings should be necessarily led to a socio-medical one which are concerned together with the spraying process of pesticides, farming style, farmer's socio-economic status and discrepancies in public health policies between agricultural communities and urban ones.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.940-955
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to compare the degree nutrient intake, health status and other characteristics of females aged 65 years and over in a longevity area according to family arrangement. For analysis, 585 female elderly were recruited from the Kugoksoondam area (Kurye, Goksung, Soonchang and Damyang counties), known as the longevity-belt region in Jeonla province, Korea. The subjects were categorized into three groups according to family arrangement (living alone, living with spouse only and living with family). Demographic characteristics were collected, as well as information on physical measurements, blood tests for biochemical indicators, health status and health-related life style, dietary behavior, favorite food groups, consumption frequency of food groups, nutrient intake and mini nutrition assessment. In the group living with their spouse only, the highest education, physical activity, diverse food intake, frequency of eating meats and fish, energy and nutrients intake, and score on the mininutrient status assessment (MNA) were found to be significantly favorable factors. Taken together, these results demonstrated that the group living with their spouse only had relatively superior nutrient intake and the quality of diet. In contrast, the group living alone showed the lowest self-rated economic status, diversity of food intake, and physical activity, with the highest frequency of drinking, smoking and regular exercise for almost everyday compared with the other groups. On the other hand, those living with family demonstrated the lowest intake of supplements or functional foods, and levels of hemoglobin hematocrit MCH, but the highest HBA1c and blood sugar. Therefore, the group living with family was assumed to be at risk of anemia and diabetes. These results could be useful to plan effective strategies to increase the health-life expectancy of Korean elderly people living in rural areas, according to family arrangement.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.146-157
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• 2009

Korean diet is high in plant foods but also high in salted vegetables. World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) recommends consumption of fruits and vegetables excluding salted vegetables for prevention cancer. This study aimed to analyze relations between intakes of salted and non-salted vegetables and socioeconomic factors, providing a data for targeted groups in promotion of fruits and vegetables consumption. Dietary and socioeconomic status data of the 5,400 subjects over 30 years of age from the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANESIII) were used. Dietary intake data from KNHANESIII was obtained by one day 24-hour recall method. Mean daily intakes of salted vegetables, non-salted vegetables and fruits of subjects were 151 g, 237 g, and 71 g respectively. Mean daily intake of salted vegetables was significantly higher in men than women for daily amount (173 g vs. 133 g) as well as percentage of total food intake (9.9% vs. 9.6%). Subjects living in rural area consumed more salted vegetables. Salted vegetables as percent of total food were lower in subjects with higher education levels (p < 0.001). Intakes of non-salted vegetables were significantly affected by age and gender. Intake levels of fruit were significantly higher in younger groups, in females, and subjects with higher income and education levels (p < 0.05). Average intake of fruits and non-salted vegetables was 307 g, lower than WCRF recommended level of 400 g for personal guideline. Intake of salted vegetables was positively correlated with sodium intake (Pearson's correlation coefficient, r = 0.43) but less so with potassium (r = 0.16) and other micronutrients intake (r < 0.1). On the other hand, non-salted vegetables had higher correlations with potassium (r = 0.45), carotene (r = 0.38), vitamin A (r = 0.37), iron (r = 0.34) and low for sodium (r = 0.13). Fruits intake was highly correlated with vitamin C intake (r = 0.46). Proportion of subjects satisfying WCRF personal guideline of fruits and non-salted vegetables was 25.7%. Results of this study indicate that intake of salted vegetable is considerably high among Koreans, and it is highly correlated with sodium intake and less so with other micronutrients.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.435-442
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• 2014

Purpose: The objective of this study was to develop a fatty acid database (DB) for estimation of intake levels of fatty acids in the Korean population, using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (KNHANES). Methods: Analytical values of fatty acids in foods were collected from food composition tables of national institutions (National Fisheries Research & Development Institute, Rural Development Administration), Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, US Department of Agriculture, and journal articles that previously reported analytical fatty acid content of some Korean foods. The coverage of fatty acids was C14:0, C16:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:2 n-6, C18:3 n-3, C20:5 n-3 (EPA), C22:6 n-3 (DHA), SFA, MUFA, and PUFA (n-3, n-6, n-9). The fatty acids DB covered a total of 5,144 food items used in the KNHANES nutrition survey. The food items were preferentially filled with analytical values of the collected data source. An analytical value for each food item was selected based on the priority criteria and the quality evaluation of data sources. Missing values were replaced with calculated or imputed values using the analytical values of similar food items from the data source. Results: A total of 1,545 analytical values, 2,589 calculated values, and 1,010 imputed values were included in the fatty acid DB. The developed fatty acid DB was applied to 2,112 food items available for 2011 KNHANES data. Mean intake levels of total fatty acids and saturated fatty acids were 40.3 g/day and 13.2 g/day, respectively. The estimation of total fatty acid intake was 84.3% (men 83.2%, women 86.0%) of daily total fat intake. Conclusion: This newly developed fatty acid DB would be helpful in determining the association of fatty acids intake and related health concerns in the Korean population.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.259-269
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• 2007

Recently, dietary pattern analysis was emerged as an approach to examine the relationships between diet and risk of chronic diseases. This study was to identify groups with population who report similar dietary pattern in Korean genome epidemiology study (KoGES) and association with several chronic diseases. The cohort participants living in Ansung and Ansan (Gyeonggi province) were totally 10,038. Among those, 6,873 subjects with no missing values in food frequency questionnaire were included in this analysis. After combining 103 food items into 17 food groups, 4 dietary factors were obtained by factor analysis based on their weights. Factor 1 showed high factor loadings in vegetables, mushrooms, meats, fish, beverages, and oriental-cereals. Factor 2 had high factor loadings in vegetables, fruits, fish, and factor 3 had high factor loadings in cereal-oriental, cerial-western and snacks. Factor 4 showed positive high factor loadings in rice and Kimchi and negative factor loadings in mushrooms and milk and dairy products. Using factor scores of four factors, subjects were classified into 3 clusters by K-means clustering. We named those 'Rice and Kimchi eating' group, 'Contented eating' group, and 'Healthy and light eating' group depending on their eating characteristics. 'Rice and Kimchi eating' group showed high prevalence in men, farmers and 60s. 'Contented eating' group and 'Healthy and light eating' group had high prevalence in women, people living in urban area (Ansan Citizen), with high-school education and above, and a monthly income of one million won and more. 'Contented eating' group appeared lower distribution proportion in the sixties and 'Healthy and light eating' group does higher in the fifties. 'Contented eating' versus 'Rice and Kimchi eating', odds ratio for hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity significantly decreased after adjusting age and sex (OR=0.64, 0.73, and 0.85 respectively, 95% CI). Although our results were from a cross-sectional study, these imply that the dietary patterns were related to diseases.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.11-19
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• 2020

Objective : The genus Glycyrrhiza has been used in food and traditional herbal medicine. Glycyrrhiza new varieties Wongam and Sinwongam have been developed by Korea Rural Development Administration and investigated to register on Korean Pharmacopoeia of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The aim of this study is to investigate the immunomodulatory effect of Wongam and Sinwongam comparing with listed Glycyrrhiza species (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer and G. glabra Linne) for evaluations about pharmacological effect of Glycyrrhiza new varieties. Methods : We studied the immunomodulatory effect of Wongam and Sinwongam compared with G. uralensis and G. glabra using THP-1 cell in vitro model. The cells were treated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for differentiation and stimulated with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to induce immune activation. We analyzed and compared the effects Glycyrrhiza new varieties and listed Glycyrrhiza species using nitric oxide (NO) assay, western blot, and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. 1) Results : Wongam and Sinwongam showed no cytotoxicity in THP-1 cells. Wongam and Sinwongam, and listed Glycyrrhiza species increased NO production, and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression with or without LPS in differentiated THP-1 macrophages. Furthermore, Wongam and Sinwongam and listed Glycyrrhiza species upregulated the mRNA expressions of T helper type 1 (Th 1)-associated cytokines in LPS-stimulated THP-1 macrophages. Conclusion : These results indicated that Wongam and Sinwongam would have effect of enhancing immune response through the increase of NO and COX-2 expression, and activate Th1-associated cytokines. The findings of this study suggest the wide applicability of Glycyrrhiza new varieties.